f /• % — -
Banksy
Wall and
V-
Published by Century in 2005
3579 10864
Copyright is for losers ™
Against his better judgement Banksy has asserted his right under the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act. 1988 to be identified
as the author of this work. The authors and publisher have made all reasonable efforts to contact copyright holders for perm,ss,on
and apologise for any omissions or errors in the form of credits given. Corrections may be made to future printings. This book is sold
subject to the condition that it shall not. by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out. or otherwise circulated wrthout the pub¬
lisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
Previously published in part as three small little books.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2005 by Century, The Random House Group Limited . 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road.
London SW1V 2SA. Random House Australia (Pty) Limited, 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point. Sydney. New South Wales 2061,
Australia. Random House, New Zealand Limited. 18 Poland Road, Glenfield, Auckland 10, New Zealand.
Random House South Africa (Pty) Limited. Endulini, 5a Jubilee Road. Parktown 2193, South Africa.
The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009. www.randomhouse.co.uk. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library. Papers used by Random House are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown insustainable forests.
The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of ongm
ISBN 1844137864
Printed and bound in Germany by Appl Druck. Wemding
Note from the publisher: This book shows the creative/artistic element of graffiti art
and is not meant to encourage or induce graffiti where it is illegal or inappropriate.
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1
WlCc»r
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VERONICA
Wall and Piece
Monkeys
12
Cops
26
Rats
82
Cows
122
Art
128
Street furniture
180
12 minutes. Bankside. London 2001
I’m going to speak my mind, so this
won’t take very long.
Graffiti is not the lowest form of art.
Despite having to creep about at
night and lie to your mum it’s actually
the most honest artform available.
There is no elitism or hype, it exhibits
on some of the best walls a town has
to offer, and nobody is put off by the
price of admission.
A wall has always been the best
place to publish your work.
The people who run our cities don’t
understand graffiti because they think
nothing has the right to exist unless it
makes a profit. But if you just value
money then your opinion is worthless.
They say graffiti frightens people and
is symbolic of the decline in society,
but graffiti is only dangerous in the
mind of three types of people;
politicians, advertising executives and
graffiti writers.
The people who truly deface our
neighbourhoods are the companies
that scrawl their giant slogans across
buildings and buses trying to make us
feel inadequate unless we buy their
stuff. They expect to be able to shout
their message in your face from every
available surface but you’re never
allowed to answer back. Well, they
started this fight and the wall is the
weapon of choice to hit them back.
Some people become cops because
they want to make the world a better
place. Some people become vandals
because they want to make the world
a better looking place.
't
All artists are prepared to suffer for their work
Nobody ever listened to me until they
didn’t know who I was.
When I was eighteen I spent one night
trying to paint ‘LATE AGAIN’ in big
silver bubble letters on the side of a
passenger train. British transport police
showed up and I got ripped to shreds
running away through a thorny bush.
The rest of my mates made it to the car
and disappeared so I spent over an
hour hidden under a dumper truck with
engine oil leaking all over me. As I lay
there listening to the cops on the tracks
I realised I had to cut my painting time
in half or give up altogether. I was
staring straight up at the stencilled
plate on the bottom of a fuel tank when
I realised I could just copy that style
and make each letter three feet high.
I got home at last and crawled into
bed next to my girlfriend. I told her I’d
had an epiphany that night and she
told me to stop taking that drug cos
it’s bad for your heart.
Simple intelligence testing
16
A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to
19
Broken Window Theory
Criminologists James Q Wilson and
George Kelling developed a theory of
criminal behaviour in the 1980’s that
became known as the ‘Broken
Window Theory’. They argued crime
was the inevitable result of disorder
and that if a window in a building is
smashed but not repaired people
walking by will think no-one cares.
Then more windows will be broken,
graffiti will appear and rubbish get
dumped. The likelihood of serious
crime being committed then increases
dramatically as neglect becomes
visible. The researchers believed there
was a direct link between vandalism,
street violence and the general decline
of society. This theory was the basis
of the infamous New York City crime
purge of the early nineties and the
zero-tolerance attitude to graffiti.
Letter received to Banksy website
I dont know who you are or how many
of you there are but i am writing to ask
you to stop painting your things where
we live. In particular xxxxxx road in
Hackney My brother and me were
born here and have lived here all our
lives but these days so many yuppies
and students are moving here neither
of us can afford to buy a house where
we grew up anymore. Your graffities
are undoubtably part of what makes
these wankers think our area is cool.
You're obviously not from round here
and after youve driven up the house
prices youll probably just move on.
Do us all a favour and go do your stuff
somewhere else like Brixton.
daniel (name and address not witheld)
Angel. London 2004
H K A V Y * ★ ★ WCAPOXAK
m m M 3AHOY % 1
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h 11 +
Ej
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Speak softly, but carry a big can
of paint. Mona Usa with rocket
launcher 15 minutes. Soho
2001. Later converted to Osama
Bin Laden by an unknown artist.
Then removed after two days.
Brighton 2003
I like to think I have the guts to stand up
anonymously in a western democracy and call
for things no-one else believes in - like peace
and justice and freedom.
Vienna 2003
Some people represent authonty
without ever possessing any of their own
*
There are no exceptions to the rule that
everyone thinks they're an exception to the rules
London 2005
36
Shoreditch, London 2002
X
I -Kxenwell. London 2003
37
This revolution is for display purposes only
On a Tuesday night in the summer I
tried to paint a train bridge that
spans Portobello Road in West
London with posters showing the
revolutionary leader Che Guevara
gradually dribbling off the page.
Every Saturday the market
underneath the bridge sells Che
Guevara t-shirts, handbags, baby
bibs and button badges. I think I
was trying to make a statement
about the endless recycling of an
icon by endlessly recycling an icon.
People seem to think if they dress
like a revolutionary they don’t
actually have to behave like one.
I got up on the bridge about 4am. It
was quiet and peaceful until two cars
approached very slowly and parked
on the street. I stopped pasting and
watched from the side of the bridge
through the bushes. After a few
minutes there was no movement and
I figured it was cool to carry on.
I reached the fifth poster when there
was a huge bang and the sound of
splitting wood. One of the cars had
reversed back up the street and was
on the pavement, wedged in the
doorway of the mobile phone shop.
Six small figures in hoods with
scarves over their faces ran into the
store throwing everything they could
into black plastic bags. In less than a
minute they were all back in their cars
which screamed down Portobello
Road beneath me. I stood there with
my mouth hanging open, a bucket in
one hand and a sawn-off sweeping
brush in the other. Being the only
young male in sportswear within a
mile I got the feeling things would
look bad for me if I hung around so I
dropped the bucket, climbed the
fence and jumped to the street.
The area was full of cameras so I
lowered my head, pulled my hood up
and ran all the way to the canal.
I imagined the kids were probably in
Kilburn by then, lighting up a spliff
and saying to each other ‘Why would
someone just paint pictures of a
revolutionary when you can actually
behave like one instead?’
41
The corrupt and brutal regime of
President Ceausescu of Romania was
infamous across the world. His
ferocious government had run the
country emphatically for many years,
crushing any signs of dissent ruthlessly.
In November 1989 he was re-elected
President for another five years as his
supporters at Party Conference gave
him forty standing ovations.
On December 21st the President,
disturbed by a small uprising in the
western city of Timisoara in support of a
Protestant Clergyman, was persuaded
to address a public rally in Bucharest.
One solitary man in the crowd, Nica
Leon, sick to death with Ceausescu
and the dreadful circumstances he
created for everyone started
shouting in favour of the
revolutionaries in Timasoara.
The crowd around him. obedient to
the last, thought that when he
shouted out ‘long live Timisoara!’ it
was some new political slogan.
They started chanting it too. It was
only when he called, ‘Down with
Ceausescu!’ that they realised
something wasn’t quite right. Terrified,
they tried to force themselves away
from him. dropping the banners they
had been carrying. In the crush the
wooden batons on which the banners
were held began to snap underfoot
and women started screaming. The
ensuing panic sounded like booing.
The unthinkable was happening.
Ceausescu stood there on his
balcony, ludicrously frozen in
uncertainty, his mouth opening and
shutting. Even the official camera
shook with fright. Then the head of
security walked swiftly acrosss the
balcony towards him and whispered,
They’re getting in’. It was clearly
audible on the open microphone and
was broadcast over the whole country
on live national radio.
This was the start of the revolution.
Within a week Ceausescu was dead.
Source: John Simpson BBC News
Bristol Fashion
Wearing your jeans two sizes too big
so they hang low off your ass in a
gangsta fashion was invented in Los
Angeles. The kids wear clothes
handed down by their brothers so
the bigger the trousers, the bigger
your brothers.
This makes sense until you wear
your slacks this way to go fountain
painting. If they get damp they tend
to fall down halfway through the
piece. Then you have to wait for a
night bus looking like you’ve just
pissed all over yourself. It doesn’t
matter how big your brothers are
when drunk geezers walk past and
see that.
One night I painted the side of a
floating night club in Bristol.
Apparently the owner quite liked it so
when the harbour manager ordered it
to be painted over the club
threatened legal action. They never
pursued it any further so I went out
and hit it again in the hope I could
lure the harbour manager out for a full
custodial sentence this time.
Once upon a time, there was a king
who ruled a great and glorious
nation. Favourite amongst his
subjects was the court painter of
whom he was very proud. Everybody
agreed this wizzened old man
painted the greatest pictures in the
whole kingdom and the king would
spend hours each day gazing at
them in wonder.
However, one day a dirty and
dishevelled stranger presented himself
at the court claiming that in fact he
was the greatest painter in the land.
The indignant king decreed a
competition would be held between
the two artists, confident it would
teach the vagabond an embarrassing
lesson. Within a month they were both
to produce a masterpiece that would
out do the other.
After thirty days of working feverishly
day and night, both artists were ready.
They placed their paintings, each
hidden by a cloth, on easels in the
great hall of the castle. As a large
crowd gathered, the king ordered the
cloth to be pulled first from the court
artist’s easel. Everyone gasped as
before them was revealed a wonderful
oil painting of a table set with a feast.
At its centre was an ornate silver bowl
full of exotic fruits glistening moistly in
the dawn light. As the crowd gazed
admiringly, a sparrow perched high up
on the rafters of the hall swooped
down and hungrily tried to snatch one
of the grapes from the painted bowl
only to hit the canvas and fall down
dead with shock at the feet of the king.
‘Aha!’ exclaimed the king. ‘My artist
has produced a painting so
wonderful it has fooled Nature
herself, surely you must agree that he
is the greatest painter who ever
lived!’ But the vagabond said nothing
and stared solemnly at his feet.
‘Now, pull the blanket from your
painting and let us see what you
have for us,’ cried the king. But the
tramp remained motionless and said
nothing. Growing impatient, the king
stepped forward and reached out to
grab the blanket only to freeze in
horror at the last moment.
‘You see,’ said the tramp quietly,
‘there is no blanket covering the
painting. This is actually just a
painting of a cloth covering a
painting. And whereas your famous
artist is content to fool Nature, I’ve
made the king of the whole country
look like a clueless little twat’.
48
Source: man in a pub
I)Y 01*1)1 ><
NATIONAL IWJHWAYS AGENCY
THIS WAIJ. IB A DKSKiWATKI)
(SRAiTIT! ARE A
m.F.A‘>r 7 am: your utter home
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Day 1
MARYLtBONf
llTY OF WESTMINSTER
email received to banksy website
I was one of the writers that fell for your legal'
graffiti site thingy-ma-bob on marylebone street
next to edgeware rd. i write AMBS SDF. i was
there with gasp zeal and haze when we pieced
it. you know we got nicked for it at the end of
the day when we had finished by an undercover
fed, but he let us go because before we had
started we asked at the fed station across the
road if it realy was legal and they said it was
cool, anyway it was all good at the end and we
got some nice pieces in a fuckin bait plot, mail
me back if you want, anyway.peace!
rrwi
53
First attempt (complete with incorrect spelling of
graffiti and a crest taken off a fag packet).
Day 25
Day 34
54
p Jsr «ii am}.
authukufh
GRAFFITI AREA
CITY OF SF NdlORW*
On Tuesday l went round San Francisco in the
middle of the day dressed in overalls
designating parts of it as legal graffiti areas.
By Friday a lot had been modified by city
workers who simply removed the offending part
with a lick of paint.
55
v#
Hackney. London 2004
Four minutes, Trafalgar Square. London 2003
found 42% were overweight. 34% were
critically obese and 8% ate the survey.
Venice Beach. California 2003
==
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#
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Millenium Bridge, London 2002
■■■
60
Bethnal Green. London 2002
A
Brighton Beach 2004
Barcelona 2003
■■■■■■■■■■I
Love Poem
Beyond watching eyes
With sweet and tender kisses
Our souls reached out to each other
In breathless wonder
And when I awoke
from a vast and smiling peace
/ found you bathed in morning light
Quietly studying
All the messages on my phone
When the time comes to leave, just walk away quietly and don’t make any fuss
Once upcm a time there was a "Bear
and a (Bee who fived in a wood and
were the best of friends, ftff summer
font] the (Bee collected nectar from
morning to night white the (Bear fay
on his hack hashing in the fang grass.
When Winter came the (Bear
reafised he had nothing to eat and
thought to himseffV hope that busy
fittfe (Bee will share some of his
honey with me'. (But the 'Bee was
nowhere to he found - he had died of
a stress induced coronary disease
A
Liverpool 2004
Bnck Lane. London 2005
Nothing dispels enthusiasm like a small admission fee. Garage wall in Highbury 2004
Tate Gallery, London 2002
76
Manchester 2002
'Art is all about finding the paint-job that turned the donkey into the zebra' an old man on a cider farm told me.
Quarry at Dead Woman’s Bottom. Somerset 2004
Painting something that defies the law of the
land is good. Painting something that defies the
law of the land and the law of gravity at the
same time is ideal.
Hackney, London 2003
84
Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a
city where everybody could draw wherever
they liked. Where every street was awash
with a million colours and little phrases.
Where standing at a bus stop was never
boring. A city that felt like a party where
everyone was invited, not just the estate
agents and barons of big business. Imagine
a city like that and stop leaning against the
wall - it’s wet.
85
Is someone
bothering you?
Are you approa ched or harassed into
buyin^Hpl^U'd or handing over
mon^H^om^^e?
remember ftt it is illegal to
ising tickets^rchasedfrom
put The proAe^0|l^^ttH
fetes can alsoP^^o finance
fated crime;^^^^^^^^
Plea^
trav<
tick€
iltegi
idrug
L^^Tncident to a member
applying your details will
itish Tr anspo rt .Police to
ito
r t us T ^Soing
allow Wf.
contact^
This will
NO
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No bathing*
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Antl-SociMV_havMA|^|
against
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■
You can win the rat race but you’re still a rat.
The human race is an unfair and stupid
competition. A lot of the runners don’t even get
decent sneakers or clean drinking water.
Some runners are bom with a massive head
start, every possible help along the way and still
the referees seem to be on their side.
It’s not surprising a lot of people have given up
competing altogether and gone to sit in the
grandstand, eat junk food and shout abuse.
What we need in this race is a lot more streakers.
The Ritz. Picadilly 2005
91
Angel. London 2005
When I was nine years old I was
expelled from school. It was punish¬
ment for swinging one of my
classmates round and round before
dropping him onto a concrete floor.
He was taken away from school by
an ambulance that had to pull right
into the playground and pick him up
on a stretcher.
The next day I was made to stand in
front of the whole school at assembly
while the headmaster gave a speech
about good and evil before I was sent
home in disgrace.
The unfortunate part is that I never
actually touched the kid. It was my
best friend Jimmy who had put him
into casualty. Me and a boy called
Martin watched Jimmy grab the kid’s
hand and swing him until he was too
dizzy to stand up and when he let
go the kid just seemed to fly off and
land on his head. It wasn’t even
malicious, just stupid. However. Jim
was a big chap for his age and
could be very persuasive. So when
we noticed the kid wasn’t getting up
Jim convinced Martin to say that it
was me who had done it. The only
other witness was the kid himself
who didn’t regain conciousness for a
week.
I tried many times to explain that I
hadn’t done it, but the boys stuck to
their story. Eventually my mum turned
to me and said bitterly that I should
have the guts to admit when I was
wrong and that it was even more
disgusting when I refused to accept
what I’d done.
So I shut up after that.
The kid sustained a fractured skull
and some mental problems. He
couldn’t remember how it had
happened and he didn’t return to
school for a long time.
I think I was lucky to learn so young
that there’s no point in behaving your¬
self. You’ll be punished for something
you never did anyway. People get it
wrong all the time.
Anyone who believes in capital
punishment should be shot.
93
Cashpoint with Di-Faced Tenners, Farringdon. London 2005
m I
If IU
TEN
w.
Conversations don’t get any better as you get older
Deptford. London 2004
Columbia Road, London 2004
Tourism is not a spectator sport. Sydney. Paris. Cheddar
101
It’s the middle of the night and we’re on the bridge facing
Shoreditch police station, home to the SOI 9 firearms unit,
painting a seventy foot wide bank of riot cops brandishing
shooters with smiley faces. In a window of an office
overlooking the bridge is a bloke working at a computer so
we have to work quietly.
After twenty minutes we’ve reached the part of the bridge
very near the offices and I realise the bloke is at the
window, cupping his hands to his eyes and squinting out.
He’s clocked what’s going and opens the window shouting
‘Hey, Hey!’ I wonder if he works for the magistrates court
attached to the police station and start to pack up the kit.
‘I want a word with you’ he shouts through the gap in the
window ‘About what?’ I say, collapsing the brush and
stepping back, we're nearly ready to roll.
There’s a pause. ‘Well, you see. I’m making a documentary
about street culture and I’d like you to be in it...’ We burst
out laughing and shout in unison ‘Fucking Shoreditch,’
finish the piece and leave before he has a chance to get
his camera out.
102
.<
another crap advert
if, 0
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Stagecoach
SOI
LX03BXL
0Q-7 vn
Policemen and security guards wear hats with a
peak that comes down low over their eyes.
Apparently this is for psychological reasons. Eye¬
brows are very expressive and you appear a lot
more authoritative if you keep them covered up.
The advantage of this is that it makes it a lot
harder for cops to see anything more than six
foot off the ground. Which is why painting
rooftops and bridges is so easy.
104
Murder Mile. Hackney. London 2003
Hackney. London 2004
Archway. London 2004
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Holborn, London 2004
Segregation Wall,
Palestine
Palestine has been occupied by the
Israeli army since 1967. In 2002 the
Israeli government began building a
wall separating the occupied
territories from Israel, much of it
illegal under international law. It is
controlled by a series of checkpoints
and observation towers, stands three
times the height of the Berlin wall
and will eventually run for over
700km - the distance from London
to Zurich. Palestine is now the
world’s largest open-air prison and
the ultimate activity holiday
destination for graffiti artists.
Bethlehem 2005
~ m-
My guide You could paint here - there are no
guards in the watch towers, they
do not come until the winter.
Me (Returning to the car after painting
for 25 minutes) What's so funny?
Guide (Lauging hysterically) Of course the
guards are in the towers, they have
the snipers with the walkie-talkies.
.
114
Old man
You paint the wall, you make it
look beautiful
Me
Thanks
Old man
We don’t want it to be beautiful,
we hate this wall, go home
Bethlehem checkpoint
Abu Dis
118
Zoo painting
I \r~\ 3 ec trie fence into central park.
Zkr ^ - 2 at three o’clock in the
wcr n rc exit didn’t realise the park
r" " :*jses the zoo is also home to
I r^an parliament. Its exception-
m • -r it and patrolled by Guardia
Z ■ ' gh-powered jeeps.
mss meepmg across the edge of the
zar* “en a patrol took me by
slt: ~se and I dived into the
5 -rjrcery a bit too late.
eeo pulled to a stop and didn’t
- : -r *or a long time. In my mind I
m 7 L\ *r<ming a story about how I was
i ess traveller with no hotel
r zn sleeping rough in the park, and
always carried 12 cans of
2 3 ramt. a climbing rope and
a er o *s with me. Then I heard
*: -reps approaching from the fence
ansctly behind me
' ■ t 'ear was properly on me as I held
- :reath, parted the ivy leaves, and
zsr* eyeball to eyeball with an
-- :~x>us fucking kangaroo.
ed to relax by staring out the
- srsupial and after a few minutes the
S^ardia jeep started up and drove
3 across the park. Within five
- -_tes I had climbed both fences
i- 3 .*» as inside the zoo.
Emsh zoos have pictures of the
; mals on a board at the front of
ram enclosure. Barcelona Zoo
doesn’t do this so I was taking extra
care before entering each pen. I was
moving at speed putting up tags on
the penguin, giraffe, bison and
gazelle enclosures before reaching
my ultimate destination - the
elephant house.
A Spanish kid had translated ‘Laugh
now but one day we’ll be in charge*
for me on a small piece of paper. I got
the paint out ready to write this in
three foot high animal-like handwriting
across the back wall, only to find I no
longer had the piece of paper.
Crouching next to a huge pile of dung
my mind froze up. I can order lager in
Spanish but not much else. I couldn’t
even think of how you would write
‘Help us’ in any language other than
English but that seemed a bit rude. I
checked my watch for the fifteenth
time and then figured this was my
best option - ticking off the time in
classic jailhouse style
I weighed in five cans of fat black,
scrawling this over every available
surface of the entire enclosure. Then
crept away quietly.
By the time I got up the following
afternoon I didn’t get any photos of
the elephant enclosure. Emergency
cleaners had been working hard on it
and covered up the rest with plastic
sheeting. It’s frustrating when the only
people with good photos of your
work are the police department.
119
Hick Hop
If you grow up In a town where they
don't have subway trains you have to
find something else to graffiti.
It s not as easy as it sounds because
most subway train drivers don’t
wander around with shotguns.
*
Original artists unknown
Show me the Monet
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Oil
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CONTACT THE POUCE STATION ON THE
NUMBERS SHOWN BELOW
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020 8649 2477/8
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‘Crimewatch UK has ruined the
countryside for all of us’
2003 Oil on canvas
This new acquisition is a beautiful example
of the neo post-idiotic style. The Artist has
found an unsigned oil painting in a London
street market and then stenciled Police
incident tape over the top. It can be argued
that defacing such an idyllic scene reflects
the way our nation has been vandalised by
its obsession with crime and paedophilia,
where any visit to a secluded beauty spot
now feels like it may result in being molested
or finding discarded body parts.
Presented by the artist personally 2003
From the Tate Gallery collection
My sister threw away loads of my drawings
when I was a kid and when I asked her where
they were she shrugged and said ‘Well it’s not
like they’re ever gonna be hanging in the
Louvre is it?’
Installation in the Louvre, Paris 2004
Duration unknown
V
Become good at cheating and you never need
to become good at anything else
Art is not like other culture because its success
is not made by its audience. The public fill
concert halls and cinemas every day. we read
novels by the millions and buy records by the
billions. Wte the people, affect the making and the
quality of most of our culture, but not our art.
The Art we look at is made by only a select few.
A small group create, promote, purchase,
exhibit and decide the success of Art. Only a
few hundred people in the world have any real
say. When you go to an Art gallery you are
simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of
a few millionaires.
*
%
After sticking up the picture I took five minutes
to watch what happened next. A sea of people
walked up. stared and left looking confused and
slightly cheated. I felt like a true modern artist.
Discount Soup Can. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Lasted 6 days
<PXL> Withus Orafjainslus <£&)
Uni led Slates
Harlequin beetle with airfix weapons. Natural History Museum. New York. Lasted 12 days
Pest Control
Recently discovered specimens of the
common sewer rat have shown some
remarkable new characteristics.
Attributed to an increase in junk food waste,
ambient radiation and hardcore urban rap
music these creatures have evolved at an
unprecedented rate. Termed the Banksus
Militus Vandalus they are impervious to all
modern methods of pest control and mark
their territory with a series of elaborate signs.
Professor B. Langford of University College
London states “You can laugh now... but one
day they may be in charge.”
Dead rat with spray can, 2004. Natural History Museum, London. Lasted 2 hours. A second specimen remains in the collection
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Wall art
East London
This finely preserved example of primitive art
dates from the Post-Catatonic era and is thought
to depict early man venturing towards the out-
of-town hunting grounds. The artist responsible
is know n to have created a substantial body of
work across the South East of England under the
moniker Banksymus Maximus but little else is
known about him. Most art of this type has
unfortunately not survived The majority is
destroyed by zealous municipal officials who
I ail to recognise the artistic merit and historical
value of daubing on w alls.
PRB 17752.2-2.1
Rock with marker pen. British Museum. London. Lasted 8 days. Now in permanent collection
Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can't even finish my second apple pie
158
I
Brandalism
People abuse you everyday. They butt
into your life, take a cheap shot at you
and then disappear. They leer at you
from tall buildings and make you feel
small. They make flippant comments
from buses that imply you’re not sexy
enough and that all the fun is
happening somewhere else. They’re
on TV making your girlfriend feel
inadequate. They have access to the
most sophisticated technology the
world has ever seen and they bully
you with it. They are The Advertisers
and they are laughing at you.
However, you are forbidden to touch
them. Trademarks, intellectual property
rights and copyright law mean
advertisers can say what they like
wherever they like with impunity.
Screw that. Any advert in public
space that gives you no choice
whether you see it or not is yours.
It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re¬
use. You can do whatever you like
with it. Asking for permission is like
asking to keep a rock someone just
threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing.
You especially don’t owe them any
courtesy. They have re-arranged the
world to put themselves in front of you.
They never asked for your permission,
don’t even start asking for theirs.
Poster for Greenpeace campaign against deforestation
You can’t beat the feelin’
You told that joke twice
166
167
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We can't do anything to change the world until
capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should
all go shopping to console ourselves.
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This painting proved too rude for the street and
every reach got cleaned off within a few days.
All except one on the shutter of a shop that
opens until nine o’clock every night.
The only time you see the picture is after the
watershed when they close. Which the boss
enforces more strictly than any TV executive.
We don’t need any more heroes, we just need someone to take out the recycling
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A lot of mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves
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Bomb Middle England
People who get up early in the morning cause
war, death and famine
^ # JT-
Street Sculpture
If you want someone to be ignored
then build a lifesize bronze statue of
them and stick it in the middle of town.
It doesn’t matter how great you were,
it’ll always take an unfunny drunk
with climbing skills to make people
notice you.
180
Bronze statue with bronze traffic cone
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Boudicca with wheel clamp. 2005. Lasted 12 days
I
Edgeware Rd. London 2005. Lasted six days
'tv'-
Balloon tethered to lampost with blow-up doll,
Picadilly Circus 2004. Lasted nine hours until
she lost pressure and was hit by a bus
IISHl
-**ef spending months thinking I was clever
oamting a picture of crows attacking cctv
: ameras I found real plastic birds in a joke shop
4 or six pounds each.
"^eard they was put there by the police so you
ook up and a computer can scan your face’ a
stallholder on Portobello market told me when I
a as taking photographs.
Shoreditch High Street, lasted 4 weeks Portobello Road. 6 weeks. Tottenham Court Road. 2 weeks
CAUTION
NO SWIMMING
STAY AWAY TROW
WATERS EOCE
Bathing lake, Hyde Park. London 2005. Lasted 3' weeks
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Glastonbury Festival. 2005
Victoria Park. London 2005. Lasted 3 months
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GUARDED
24 HOURS
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YOU DONT
HAVE TO BE
AN ILLEGAL
IMMIGRANT
TO WORK
HERE - BUT
IT HELPS
PUT A MENU
THROUGH
THIS
LETTERBOX
AND 1 WILL
NEVER EAT
YOUR FOOD
AGAIN
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AMERICANS
WORKING
OVERHEAD
KEEP LEFT
*STO
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AUTHORISED
GRAFFITI AREA
194
Don’t believe the type
195
Modified billboard. Los Angeles 2002
199
Manifesto
Extract from the diary of Lieutenant
Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin DSO who
was amongst the first British soldiers
to arrive at the Nazi death camp
Bergen-Belsen. It was liberated in
April 1945 close to the end of the
second World War
I can give no adequate discription of
the Horror Camp in which my men
and myself were to spend the next
month of our lives. It was just a barren
wilderness, as bare as a chicken run.
Corpses lay everywhere, some in huge
piles, sometimes they lay singly or in
pairs where they had fallen.
It took a little time to get used to
seeing men women and childen
collapse as you walked by them and
to restrain oneself from going to their
assistance. One had to get used early
to the idea that the individual just did
not count. One knew that five
hundred a day were dying and that
five hundred a day were going on
dying for weeks before anything we
could do would have the slightest
effect. It was, however, not easy to
watch a child choking to death from
diptheria when you knew a
tracheotomy and nursing would save
it, one saw women drowning in their
own vomit because they were too
weak to turn over, and men eating
worms as they clutched a half loaf of
bread purely because they had had to
eat worms to live and now could
scarcely tell the difference.
Piles of corpses, naked and obscene,
with a woman too weak to stand
proping herself against them as she
cooked the food we had given her
over an open fire; men and women
crouching down just anywhere in the
open relieving themselves of the
dysentary which was scouring their
bowels, a woman standing stark
naked washing herself with some
issue soap in water from a tank in
which the remains of a child floated.
It was shortly after the British Red
Cross arrived, though it may have no
connection, that a very large quantity of
lipstick arrived. This was not at all what
we men wanted, we were screaming for
hundreds and thousands of other things
and I don't know who asked for lipstick.
I wish so much that I could discover
who did it, it was the action of genious.
sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe
nothing did more for those internees
than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with
no sheets and no nightie but with
scarlet red lips, you saw them wander¬
ing about with nothing but a blanket
over their shoulders, but with scarlet
red lips. I saw a woman dead on the
post mortem table and clutched in her
hand was a piece of lipstick. At last
someone had done something to make
them individuals again, they were
someone, no longer merely the number
tatooed on the arm. At last they could
take an interest in their appearance.
That lipstick started to give them back
their humanity.
Source: Imperial War museum
Advice on making stencils
• Mindless vandalism can take a bit
of thought.
• Nothing in the world is more
common than unsuccessful people
with talent, leave the house before
you find something worth staying
in for.
• Think from outside the box,
collapse the box and take a fucking
sharp knife to it.
• A regular 400ml can of paint will
give you up to 50 A4 sized stencils.
This means you can become
incredibly famous/unpopular in a
small town virtually overnight for
approximately ten pounds.
• Try to avoid painting in places
where they still point at aeroplanes.
• Spray the paint sparingly onto the
stencil from a distance of 8 inches.
• When explaining yourself to the
Police its worth being as
reasonable as possible. Graffiti
writers are not real villains. I’m
always reminded of this by real
villains who consider the idea of
breaking in someplace, not stealing
anything and then leaving behind a
painting of your name in four foot
high letters the most retarded thing
they ever heard of.
• Be aware that going on a major
mission totally drunk out of your
head will result in some truly
spectacular artwork and at least
one night in the cells.
• The easiest way to become
invisible is to wear a day-glo vest
and carry a tiny transistor radio
playing Heart FM very loudly. If
questioned about the legitimacy of
your painting simply complain
about the hourly rate.
• Crime against property is not real
crime. People look at an oil
painting and admire the use of
brushstrokes to convey meaning.
People look at a graffiti painting
and admire the use of a drainpipe
to gain access.
• The time of getting fame for your
name on its own is over. Artwork
that is only about wanting to be
famous will never make you
famous. Fame is a by-product of
doing something else. You don't go
to a restaurant and order a meal
because you want to have a shit.
Additional words and inspiration by
Simon Munnery, Dirty Mark, Mike Tyler,
BC Pnncess, Crap Hound. Brian Haw,
Tom Wolfe and D.
Additional photography by Steve Lazandes,
James Pfaff. Andy Phipps. Maya Hyuk. Aiko
and Tristan Manco.
Technical support by Eine. Farmer, Luke.
Tmks. Faile. Kev. Paul Insect, Wissam,
Jonesy and Brooksy.
Layout by Jez Tucker.
www.banksy.co.uk
Dedicated to the memory of Casual T
People either love me or they hate me. or they don't really care
207
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“There’s no way you’re going to get a quote
from us to use on your book cover”
Metropolitan Police spokesperson
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